


Demeter at the Turn of Time

by farad



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 12:43:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11600904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farad/pseuds/farad
Summary: For the Fic_Promptly top prompt of Apocalypse, and the specific prompt, “Avengers, Clint and any, Clint read 'No Blade of Grass' and now he's insisting on growing root crops and looking for other plants that might survive an apocalyptic virus.(No Blade of Grass by John Christopher in the US, also known as The Death of Grass in the UK, is a novel written in the 1950s about a virus that attacks any grass based crop such as wheat and rice etc and spreads across the world leading to widespread famine, panic and death). “Sequel to “Demeter in Her Own Course”.  (http://archiveofourown.org/works/11572380 )All Mistakes My Own.





	Demeter at the Turn of Time

 

“Don’t have to tell you that you were right,” Natasha said, pitching her voice low. It was almost midnight but she she had texted Laura before the call, finding that she was up with the baby.

 

 

 

“How bad?” Laura asked, equally as softly. She drew the last word into a long ‘coo’ for the baby, and Nat knew she was covering her voice, in case Clint – whose hearing was uncanny – heard her . Clint wasn’t in the bedroom – he had his own room, close to Conner and Lila’s, where he’d been staying since he’d ‘retired’.

 

 

 

“The Accords – the issue of allowing an oversight committee from the UN give us our marching orders. In the wake of the destruction of Sokovia by Ultron and then the thing in Nigeria last week – well, Tony is agreeing to the oversight and Steve is not. The rest of us are pretty much divided.”

 

 

 

She winced as she finished because she knew what Laura would ask next.

 

 

 

“You?” Laura asked, even as Natasha tried to sort her own mind.

 

 

 

“I . . . I see both sides,” she said with a sigh. “More to the point, I think that if we don’t allow for this now, we’re going to have it rammed down our throats later. At least this way, we have some control over what happens.”

 

 

 

There was silence on the other end of the connection and not for the first time, she really wished she was there to see Laura’s face.

 

 

 

After a time, Laura said, “You’re playing politics.”

 

 

 

Nat couldn’t argue. She was. She saw the inevitability of it and she was trying to draw it out as long as possible, to give them – her people – the time to find a foothold from which to control their choices.

 

 

 

“What do you want me to do?” she asked, turning the point around. And the issue. Often, Laura had insights – powers – that gave her a larger sense of the possible futures. Precognizance, in a way, except that she had no sense of the actual time. She couldn’t say that ‘x’ would happen tomorrow. She could say that it would happen though.

 

 

 

Eventually. In the fullness of time. Whenever the damned universe got around to it.

 

 

 

As if sensing her frustration – or knowing it – Laura said, “So they’ve finally split?”

 

 

 

Nat almost laughed but she caught herself. From habit, she looked around the area, to see if anyone was watching her, to see if there was anyone about. She was in a crowded mall, near the main electrical housing for the whole place. She’d learned long ago that cell signals - all signals – were usually distorted by power generators. “So it seems. I’ve stayed with Tony for the moment. Figure I can best work on the objective from Vienna. But it’s nasty, Laura. You need to be prepared to go. I don’t see any way but that both of them are going to need help, and they’re both going to call on the people they know – and trust – best.”

 

 

 

Laura gave a short laugh. “Yeah, you’re right. Personally, it’s about damned time. I’ve been waiting for it – and Clint has too. He’s been climbing the walls. Except when he’s been putting hydroponics in the basement and the barn. He’s decided we have to have plants that will grow in the wake of a nuclear war – or another Ultron. I swear to God, if I hear one more thing about post-apocalyptic crop strains, I personally may call up Steve and give him a piece of my mind.”

 

 

 

It wasn’t funny.

 

 

 

Really, it wasn’t.

 

 

 

But Natasha saw the picture completely, Clint, stripped to his pants and boots, building planter boxes in the huge basement under the house, filling them with mulch and planting corn and beans and any number of other things. Survivalism, the super-hero way. Or the S.H.I.E.L.D. way..

 

 

 

But then, wasn’t that what they’d been doing since day Laura had suggested creating this unusual family? Planning for the end of the world – at least as it was now?

 

 

 

A small, sharp cry brought her back to the moment and she murmured, “How’s my baby boy?”

 

 

 

Laura was making low, soothing noises, with words mixed in every now and then. After a time, she said, “He’s a fighter, this one. He’s going to save the world one day. Just like his parents.”

 

 

 

“All three of them,” Natasha said with a smile. “Can’t imagine that Clint knows enough about gardening on his own to keep us all alive.”

 

 

 

Laura laughed – not a deep, long sound, but a light-hearted one that gave Natasha faith. Comfort.

 

 

 

“Tell him to be ready,” Nat said. “Oh, but also – also tell him that Bucky Barnes is with Steve, and Steve’s protecting him. It’s messy but, well . . .”

 

 

 

“It’ll be all right, Nat,” Laura said. “He’s waited this long. And Barnes, hero that he is and will be – well, this isn’t the time for him.”

 

 

 

The relief that flooded through her was dizzying. It made her breath catch and she closed her eyes, afraid of losing her balance. Bucky Barnes – the Winter Soldier – was the thorn between Steve and Tony. Though the Accords were the conceptual difference, protecting Barnes was the practical example.

 

 

 

“Clint will be ready,” Laura said. “And I trust you will look after the father of our children.” She said it playfully, but Nat understood the message.

 

 

 

“Always,” she answered. “You take care of the kids. And of yourself. I gotta have something to come home to.”

 

 

 

There was short mewling sound, and she knew that Nathaniel was feeding. After a few seconds, Laura said, “You always will, my love. Both of you. And the others. Now – go save my world.”

 

 

 

The signal dropped before Nat could respond, but she didn’t need to. Instead, she looked out at the teeming hordes of people around her and tried to envision Clint the Farmer. On the way out of the mall, she stopped by the Bass Pro Shop and bought him a couple of flannel shirts and a pair of overalls. As she was waiting in line to check out, she added a Captain American bandanna to the mix.

 

 

 

It never hurt to butter up.

 

 

 


End file.
